The present invention relates generally to slides, and more particularly to mounting apparatus for slides.
Slides are often used in extensibly mounting items for easy access. Slides are used to mount drawers within cabinetry, computer equipment within racks, and in a variety of other applications. At times nomenclature for slides follows their form, with for example telescopic slides having slide members nested within one another and extending in a telescopic fashion, over and under slides having one slide member over another slide member, and so on. At other times slides are identified by their mounting position with respect to the item they carry, such as a bottom mount slide which may be mounted underneath a drawer or side mount slides which may be mounted on opposite sides of a drawer. At other times nomenclature for slides follows their use, with for example slides coupling drawers within cabinets being called drawer slides and slides mounting computer equipment in a rack being termed rack mounted slides. However, the slides themselves often may be used in a variety of applications, although particular slides may have particular auxiliary features and/or associated hardware that recommend or are adapted for a particular use.
One use of auxiliary hardware is in mounting slides to an enclosure, such as a cabinet or a rack. For example, brackets may be coupled to a slide to allow for variations in depth of the enclosure, as well as to account for variations in mounting points. With regard to depth of enclosure, the brackets themselves are often themselves extensible with respect to the slide, at least before fixation of the bracket to the slide. Mounting points for enclosures, however, may vary in a seemingly bewildering fashion, even for enclosures of nominally the same type. In addition, the method of mounting may also vary, whether through the use of hooks, screws, posts, or other items.
For example, racks for computer equipment may present different mounting options. Although there is some standardization of computer racks, the racks may provide square holes for mounting, round holes for mounting, and different hole spacing. Moreover, different suppliers may provide, or different end users may have, different racks for similar computer equipment, or the end users may wish to move equipment from rack to rack. Accordingly, extensibly mounting of computer equipment in racks may require use of a variety of auxiliary hardware, with associated stocking and labor issues.